International Ancient Drama Workshop in Delphi

The Greek National Theatre’s Third International Ancient Drama Workshop will be held in Delphi from 16 to 30 July 2018 in collaboration with the European Cultural Centre of Delphi.

In 2016, the National Theatre of Greece set up the International Workshop on Ancient Drama in collaboration with the European Cultural Centre of Delphi. The workshop is run under the auspices and with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sport, and is part of the ministry’s Ancient Drama Network.

The aim of the GNT is the study and dissemination of ancient drama, providing expert knowledge to theatre professionals who wish to equip themselves with additional practice-based tools designed to be relevant to their work.

The intensive two-week workshop takes place every summer in Delphi on a specific topic drawn from ancient drama. The workshop is intended for young theatre professionals from Greece and abroad, including actors with at least two years’ experience, directors, set designers, costume designers, choreographers and other theatre creatives, who want to deepen their study of ancient drama through in-depth focus with a practical foundation.

On each day of the workshop, participants will attend intensive morning and afternoon sessions that involve physical and mental exercise, study, theory and practice.

This year’s workshop, run by the director Katerina Evangelatou, will focus on Euripides’ Hippolytus. It will be structured into two stages in which the director will take a global approach to the work – theoretical and practical – with the assistance of her two long-term associates, the choreographer Patricia Apergi and the composer Giorgos Poulios.

The first stage of the workshop:

INTRODUCTION: Study of the play (introduction to the world of the poet and the play; comments; historical, dramaturgical and literary elements; character analysis; main themes and dramatic levers, etc.)

EXERCISE: A series of exercises on poetic speech, the body and the function of the actor; always in terms of the play and the issues it raises.

The second stage of the workshop:

EXERCISE: Development of the exercises by targeting specific episodes and stages of the play to apply them to.

PRACTICAL WORK/SCENE COMPOSITION: Focus on particular episodes and stages of the play, attempting a synthesis of the elements organised in the previous phase.

The workshop will be conducted in Greek and English. Knowledge of English is also essential for Greek participants.

She is an awarded theatre and opera director from Greece known for her innovative works in Athens and abroad (Russia, Germany). Katerina was born in Athens, Greece, to a theatrical and musical family.

A graduate of the National Theatre Drama School, she also studied Philosophy at the University of Athens as well as Piano and Guitar at the Greek Conservatory.

After appearing as an actor for two years at the National Theater of Greece, she pursued postgraduate studies in Theatre Directing at the famous Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS) in Moscow and at Middlesex University in London on an Onassis Foundation scholarship (MA in Theatre Directing with Distinction).

She made her debut as a director at the National Theatre of Greece, with which she has had a long standing relationship having directed many acclaimed productions there since 2006. Some of her recent productions in the National Theatre and in other big theatres in Greece and abroad (Staatstheater Augsburg-Germany, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens and Epidaurus Festival, Chorn Theatre, Amphi-Theatre etc) include classics, such as Euripides (Alcestis, Rhesus), Brecht (Der gute Mensch von Sezuan), Thomas Kyd (The Spanish Tragedy), Tennessee Williams (Glass Menagerie), as well as contemporary authors such as Roland Schimmelpfennig (Der goldene Drache, Idomeneus), Ivan Vyrypaev (Illusions) and Vassily Sigarev (Plasticine).

She has been teaching acting in many prestigious academies and universities such as the University of Athens, the Acting Academy of the Athens Conservatory, the National Theatre’s Academy, the University of Peloponnese, the American College of Athens etc.

She is fluent in Greek, English, Russian and French.

AWARDS: Katerina has won the prestigious ‘Best Young Artist’ award from the Greek Union of Drama and Music Critics (2009) and the ‘Eleftheria Sapountzi’ award for her directorial output in 2009-2011.

Her directorial work of the opera “The tales of Hoffmann” earned 9 nominations for the prestigious Golden Mask Awards in Russia, including Best Director and Best Production.